5 Ways to Wear the Optimatium Dress
The Optimatium dress has proven to be more versatile that I’d thought. You know, a dress is often worn just on its own as, well, a dress. But once I got started putting it with other things, there were so many more possibilities. Like to make one? The pattern is 25% off in my shop…
Read MoreNew-ish Pattern: Optimatium Dress
The zero waste Optimatium dress is a pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine #9 in October last year. The copyright has since reverted to me, and it’s been re-graded to a bigger size range and formatted as pdf pattern. It’s now in my shop – please enjoy 25% off for the next month. Optimatium means…
Read MoreNew Pattern: Low Waste Bucket Hat and Sunhat
Hello All, I have a new-ish pattern to present to you. The low-waste sunhat, which was available at the Making Zen Online Retreat last month, has had a mini makeover and is now a pdf pattern. It has a bucket hat brim option, a re-edited sew-a-long video, and a little tweak to the instructions for…
Read MoreMending Moments: The Lost Beret
A tidy-up ahead of visitors arriving (as you do) turned up a long-lost knitted beret. It had fallen down behind some things and was covered in dust. I’d forgotten I’d ever knitted it, as it was some years ago. The wool was superb; super soft, non-itchy baby merino. Unfortunately the moths had gotten to it…
Read MoreWrapping Up Me-Made-May 2024
Me-Made-May is a wardrobe challenge to help improve your relationship with your handmade clothes. The aim is to intentionally wear your self-made items more and/or in different ways, and have fun at the same time. This was my eighth time. I’ve tried different ways of doing Me-Made-May in the past: a capsule collection each week;…
Read MoreFinishing Those UFOs
Regular readers of this blog may remember a post I did back in February, cataloguing the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) lying around the house. I decided to make the UFOs part of my Me-Made-May challenge, and pledged to finish three items during May. I’m happy to report that I’ve gone above and beyond, and have ticked…
Read MoreRecommended Reading: Ametora, I Can Make Dolls’ Clothes, and ZW Fashion Design
Here are some beaut books I’ve been reading or (in the case of Dolls’ Clothes) rediscovered. They are all very different! Ametora – How Japan Saved American Style by W. David Marx (2015, Hatchette, updated with afterword 2023) I bought this book for Mr H to give me last Christmas, chosen on the strength of…
Read MoreOn Designing a Zero Waste Hat
The Making Zen Online Retreat is coming up at the end of this month (it’s free – register here and read more). I’m presenting a sew-a-long for a low waste sunhat. The idea of a zero waste hat has been rolling around in my mind for the past year+, and I’d planned to talk about…
Read MoreRevisiting the Boho Dress
The boho dress is a pattern in the Zero Waste Sewing book. I made this pattern in 2018, only a couple of years into my zero waste adventures. The dress is a good example of using tessellations for zero waste, as the single pattern piece is top-and-tailed to nest perfectly together with itself. It has…
Read MoreHow Not to Make Avocado Buttons
Or: “It all looked better on Instagram”. Sometimes I get nice ideas for craft sent to me by thoughtful friends. In the past week, both my teen and an Instagram friend sent me this reel, showing how to make buttons from avocado seeds. With avocados in the house, plentiful and cheap, I took this as…
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